Sea of Golden Sand: Chapter 5

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Retranslation

Behind the sand dune, I lower my head and wage war against the complicated fastenings of my clothing.

Rafayel: Having your lady-in-waiting stand in for you at the ball, for a princess, you’re a bit too clever.

MC: Don’t worry, when I was young, she also attended many etiquette lessons in my stead. The people at the ball won’t be able to tell the difference for a little while.

Rafayel: Have you finished changing, do you need help.

I shake out my sleeves, tug down my skirt, and climb back over the sand dune, returning to Rafayel’s side, dressed in the same stealth suit he’s wearing.

Rafayel: Come here.

Rafayel: In the desert, the temperature difference between day and night is huge. If you don’t want to be sun-dried during the day, and frozen at night, you must wrap it a little more tightly.

MC: But don’t you think you’ve wrapped yourself up a little too tightly…

Rafayel: … it’s not some treasured item.

Rafayel: With this, it lets Lemurians live here a little easier, that’s all.

Rafayel: Curious? Hold out your hand.

Rafayel: Both of them.

MC: A little desert rat?

Rafayel: Raise it as a pet or—

Rafayel: Roast it to eat, it’s up to you.

MC: If this is a birthday present to me, then of course I can’t eat it.

Rafayel: This isn’t much of a present. Nocturnal animals like these desert rats, you can catch plenty of them once it gets dark.

Rafayel: Open your mouth.

Rafayel: It’s not something that can be eaten but .

Rafayel: It’s a cake baked in a sand pit—the dough is made from tapioca flour, and it’s mixed with camel milk.

MC: This sort of cooking method—it doesn’t seem like something you Lemurians would eat.

Rafayel: Then what do you think we eat?

MC: Hmm… big eat little fishes, little fishes eat small fry, so perhaps you eat little clams, little conches and what not.

Rafayel: And perhaps also ride sea monsters across the waves, followed behind by a school of sharks and manta rays?

Rafayel and I stay until the sun begins to slope westwards. I sigh. The time to return to the royal city is drawing nearer and nearer.

MC: Rafayel, thank you for bringing me out here.

MC: You’ve conjured a little fish before, and just now, you rode a sea monster…

MC: All that’s left between you and the Sea God is a .

Rafayel: Something that cumbersome, this Sea God would never get used to it.

MC: My lord Sea God, I have one more wish.

MC: I wish for you to bring me to see the ocean…

Rafayel lowers his eyes and doesn’t speak. His silence causes me to fear that in the next second he will say something in refusal.

MC: Forget it, you don’t need—

MC: Wh… what’s the matter?

Rafayel: …

Rafayel: Since you’ve never seen the ocean, why do you have such an interest in the ocean and things related to it?

MC: I’ll secretly tell you, actually I’ve seen it.

Rafayel: Don’t tell me it was in a dream.

MC: —it was in a dream.

That is a scene that frequently appears in my dreams.

Under a dull overcast sky, the ocean is like a lead-grey desert, the waves as high as the sky, fiercely pummeling a lonely island in the middle of the ocean.

I am in a damp room on the island, surrounded by loneliness and solitude, drifting in and out of sleep.

I know, the endless raging ocean outside my window will take me away one day.

It’s as if… I have always been waiting for someone from the ocean to come and rescue me from this prison…

Rafayel: Besides that stretch of ocean, have you dreamt of anything else?

MC: I don’t remember too clearly anymore. I don’t like this dream much.

As I describe the dreamscape, Rafayel draws it out on the sand.

With just a few strokes, it actually looks just like it does in my dream.

MC: That’s it! Do you know this place? Where is it?

I have always thought if I can figure out where this place is, I can find out who I am, and where this heart of mine comes from.

Rafayel: …

Rafayel: The origin of the legend of the Sea God.

MC: The legend of the Sea God?

Rafayel: … You’ll understand in the future.

In Rafayel’s calm eyes some sort of emotion flashes through. He doesn’t continue the topic, turning away.

Rafayel: The sun is about to set.

I look as well. Not far away, the entire royal city built wholly from white marble is laid out before my eyes. The golden rooftops of the palace reflect the setting sun, and it sits on the surface of this planet of endless golden sand, like a pearl that heavenly gods have lost in the desert.

MC: I have never seen the royal city from this angle… how beautiful, it’s like I’m dreaming.

This is a rare moment of freedom in my life, but this unreal romance unconsciously brings me a sense of unease—

Rafayel, the one who brought me into this dreamscape, what caused him to appear by my side?

Could it really be only because when I was young we had a chance encounter?

MC: Rafayel, is there anything you want?

MC: If there is, you can tell me.

That heart of the gods has already made me accustomed to kindness with ulterior motives, so, it is very hard to believe that in this world, there could be any unconditional giving.

Rafayel: Something I want?

MC: Hmm… you appear when I need you, and fulfill all my wishes, and can even draw the images from my dreams…

MC: All of this, is it only coincidence?

Rafayel: Aren’t you my master?

Rafayel’s gaze falls lightly on my face.

MC: Master?

Rafayel: Once a Lemurian has formed a bond with someone, they cannot go against that person’s wishes.

MC: Formed a bond… are you speaking of when you were given to me as a present?

MC: But to tame a Lemurian, don’t you have to personally pluck off their or something like that? I certainly didn’t do anything at the time.

Rafayel: The bond between us has existed for a very long time.

The wind gradually blows apart the ocean drawn in the sand. Rafayel looks at me and tucks a stray hair next to my cheek behind my ear.

Rafayel: Back when the oceans had not yet dried up.

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